A wave of car bombs and mortars in Baghdad's Sadr City district has left about 160 people dead and more than 200 injured, Iraq police have said. It was the most devastating series of attacks in Iraq's capital in a single day since the US-led invasion in 2003. The bombings in Sadr City were followed by mortar attacks on Sunni areas. The Iraqi authorities have put Baghdad under curfew and closed the airport, and Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki went on TV to appeal for restraint amid the violence. "We denounce sectarian practices that aim to destroy the unity of the nation," Mr Maliki said. Leaders of Iraq's Shia, Sunni and Kurdish communities also appealed for calm, while Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, "urged people not to react illegally and maintain self-restraint and calm," one of his officials said... http://news.bbc.co.uk

An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 4.5 struck off the northwest coast of the Big Island on Thursday in the same area where two stronger temblors struck last month. The quake, centered about 11 miles northwest of Puuanahulu, shook homes on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu, but it did not produce a tsunami threat, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated its magnitude at 5.0; the Tsunami Warning Center estimated it at 4.5. There were isolated power outages in Kona on the Big Island, but no other damages were immediately reported. Magnitude 6.7 and 6.0 earthquakes shook the islands Oct. 15, causing power outages, bridge collapses and road closures. Those quakes caused an estimated $200 million in damages. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2676152

THE mandatory nutrition information that appears on all processed foods in Australia is often inaccurate and misleading, according to the first analysis of how well the claims reflect packet contents. Even allowing for a 20 per cent margin of error on the specified amount, as many as 84 per cent of labels incorrectly stated the quantity of at least one component, the survey of 70 packaged products conducted for the NSW Food Authority found. In one brand of chips, scientists found the amount of trans fat - which has been implicated in the development of heart disease - was 13 times higher than claimed on the label. (Trans fat results when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make shortening or margarine. The process extends the shelf life of fatty products such as biscuits and snack foods.) Products that claimed to be low in sodium or fat were even more likely than other foods to feature incorrect information...http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/23/1163871546467.html

Former US President George Bush was jeered when he told a hostile Arab audience in Abu Dhabi: "My son is an honest man". The oil-rich Persian Gulf state used to be safe territory for Bush the elder who brought Arab leaders together in a coalition that drove Saddam Hussein's troops from Kuwait in the first Gulf War 1991. But gratitude for his time as president from 1989-93, was overshadowed at a conference today by animosity towards current President George W Bush, whose invasion of Iraq and support for Israel are deeply unpopular in the region. "We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he's doing all over the world," a woman in the audience bluntly told Bush after his speech. Bush, 82, appeared stunned as others in the audience whooped and whistled in approval. One university student told Bush his believed US-led wars were aimed at opening markets for American companies and said globalisation was contrived for America's benefit at the expense of the rest of the world...http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-snr-jeered-for-saying-my-son-is-honest/2006/11/23/1163871528563.html

ONE year before the invasion of Iraq, Australia's then ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth, confidentially told AWB's former chairman, Trevor Flugge, that the Howard Government would participate in military action with the US to overthrow Saddam Hussein, new AWB documents reveal. Details of the extraordinary conversation undercut previous statements by the Prime Minister that Australia had not agreed to join the war in Iraq before the UN debate in late 2002 and early 2003. The conversation between Mr Dauth and Mr Flugge took place in early 2002 - 13 months before the war - and the details are contained in confidential AWB board minutes that were released without fanfare yesterday by the Cole inquiry. The minutes record Mr Flugge telling the board on February 27, 2002, that Mr Dauth confided in him "he believed that US military action to depose Saddam Hussein was inevitable and that at this time the Australian Government would support and participate in such action"....http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/flugge-knew-invasion-plans/2006/11/22/1163871481920.html

Claims by critics of the war in Iraq that this conflict is similar in many ways to the U.S. experience in Vietnam have long been derided by pundits and administrations officials. But a new survey finds that almost 6 in 10 Americans believe that the analogy is accurate. A poll by Opinion Research Corporation released by CNN finds that 58% of respondents believe the war in Iraq has turned into a situation like the United States faced in Vietnam, up six points since early October.In another finding, a whopping 63% of Americans now say they oppose the war in Iraq, with only 33% favoring it. President Bush this week, on a visit to Vietnam, said that the lesson of that war was that the U.S. needs to stay in Iraq and "win" this time. ...http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003437919